On a Night of Broadcast Premieres, One Network Separates Itself From the Pack

Monday night saw new fall shows and season premieres roll out in earnest in broadcast prime time, and one network came away as the clear winner, based on Nielsen overnights for the key 18-49 demo. The network was NBC.

The Peacock Network combined the two-hour season premiere of "The Voice" with a strong debut for the new drama series "The Blacklist" to chalk up a dominating win for the night. TVbytheNumbers.com reports that the season five premiere of "The Voice" delivered a 4.9 average rating in viewers 18-49 — topping last fall’s 4.2 average and last spring’s 4.8 to easily claim top broadcast show of the night.

NBC’s "The Blacklist" premiere was the night’s next-highest-rated show on broadcast with a 3.8 average in 18-49 — trouncing everything else in its 10 p.m. time period but below the 4.1 turned in last fall by the premiere of the hotly anticipated "Revolution," which also had "The Voice" as its lead-in.

Head-to-head against "The Blacklist," CBS’s premiere of its new drama "Hostages" managed only a 1.8 average in the 18-49 demo, less than half the number for the NBC show. The CBS show matched the rating for CBS’s "Hawaii Five-0" in the time period a year ago. ABC’s "Castle" was No. 2 in the time slot with a 2.2, improving slightly on a 2.1 for last year’s premiere.

CBS had a better result for its new show "Mom," which premiered to a 2.5 average in adults 18-49 at 9:30, leading out from "2 Broke Girls." That show’s season premiere delivered a 2.8 average, but CBS’s top show of the night was the one-hour season premiere of "How I Met Your Mother," with a 3.6.

ABC saw its two-hour "Dancing with the Stars" lose ground from last week’s season premiere. With new competition from a batch of premieres at 8 and 9 p.m., "Dancing" dropped from a 3.1 for the opener to a 2.3 this week in viewers 18-49.

Fox’s new drama "Sleepy Hollow" turned in another good number — a 3.1 in 18-49 — although it lost ground from last week’s 3.5. "Bones" also lost four-tenths of a point, settling for a 1.9.

The numbers for prime time overall show NBC well ahead of the pack in the 18-49 demo with a 4.6 average, beating CBS (2.7), Fox (2.5), ABC (2.3) and Univision (1.3). The race for total viewers is tighter, but NBC again comes out on top with 14.0 million, topping ABC (12.7 million), CBS (8.3 million), Fox (7.6 million) and Univision (3.4 million).